U14 Girls' Regional Success

On Tuesday the U14 girls' hockey team travelled to Haileybury for their regional tournament. First up were The Perse; a bright start saw Georgie Back score from a short corner. The Perse equalised in the second half; despite a strong rally, Felsted could not find the winning goal.

Match two was against a strong Ipswich team. A vastly improved performance saw Felsted run out deserved 2-1 winners; goals coming from Alex Went and Rebecca Earl. The final group game was against Norwich County High School. A poor first half saw Felsted fall behind; too much was required in the second half and Felsted lost 3-1.

However, in a tight group, the girls finished second. In the cross-over match, Felsted played the winners of group B, Framlingham, who had won all their matches so far that day. In a tightly contested game, Felsted again rose to the challenge of playing against an excellent side. The game ended 2-2 with goals from Alex Went and Rebecca Earl.

Up next, penalty flicks. After five successful penalties from each team, we entered sudden death. On the second Framlingham penalty, Sophie Weston pulled off a stunning lunging save to her right and deflected the ball wide of the goal to send Felsted through to the next round!

The next round is on the 26th at Haileybury. A successful day would see the girls progress to the National Finals.

U14 Girls' - Essex Champions

The U14 girls' qualified for the hockey Regionals in stunning style on Thursday 17th October, winning the Essex tournament. They met Brentwood in the final, and taught their opponents a lesson in Hockey, winning 6-1. Their run to the final was equally impressive, scoring 26 goals in five games, before their crushing victory to win the overall competition. They are now looking forward to the Regionals in a few weeks. 

Girls' U15 B v Bishop's Stortford College

The U15 B side were keen to get a win before the half term break, having been close several times earlier in the term.

Felsted pressed hard from the first whistle and were looking strong on the attack.  Good runs by forwards Emily Illhardt, Megan Mankelow, Kathryn Percy and Saskia Malins eventually paid off with Megan sweeping the ball into the back of the net.  This riled Stortford who started to attack hard and there were plenty of strong battles from the midfield of Laura Winter, Olivia Fenn, Tia Richards, Poppy Mifsud, Charley Butler and Charley Adams. Stortford managed to get several penalty corners but were denied every time with some excellent saves from Annabel Sunnucks in goal.  Everyone was relieved when the half time whistle went.

After some positive words from coach Davey the girls went out, clear in the knowledge that if they dug deep and worked as a team they would come out as victors.  It seemed that Stortford also had a similar talk as soon as the whistle went they were strong on the attack. The defence of Abby Fenn, Hannah A’Violet, Hannah Barrett and Giselle Bacheta battled hard and stopped plenty of Stortford’s chances.  However, as time went on Felsted raised their game and created plenty of attacking chances, with the keeper having to make some very important saves.  With depth from the bench constantly rolling on and off the Stortford girls’ didn’t know what to do.  With the final minutes showing some very good hockey and end to end play the Felsted girls’ were pleased when the final whistle went and they were winners.  They dug deep and pulled together to get the 3 points they deserved. 

The girls play RHS Holbrook on Thursday in their last game before the half term break, where they are hoping to take another win.  

Girls' 1st XI v The Leys

Saturday 14^th September v The Leys (Home) - Won 3 – 0 

The girls arrived to the match on Saturday with a few start of season nerves floating about the group. It seemed like a long time ago that the group had been sat at Heathrow Airport departure lounge, ready to embark upon the two week tour of America back in July and the girls were keen to show how much they had improved since last season. These nerves were certainly apparent in the early exchanges which resulted in The Leys creating some excellent scoring opportunities only to be denied by Felsted’s Alex Back in goal.


As the nerves settled Felsted started to string some passes together and enjoyed some success in behind the Leys defence. Eventually the breakthrough came in the shape of a short corner. Lara Peck unleashed a vicious strike on goal which was well saved by the goalkeeper before Hattie Holmes pounced on the rebound and crashed the ball low into the bottom corner, 1-0 to Felsted. A second goal followed fairly quickly. Hattie Holmes did some excellent work along the left hand side baseline before pulling the ball back for Isabella Minks to strike low into the goal. The score remained 2-0 as they headed into half time.  


The second half saw a much more controlled performance from Felsted with the back four looking secure and composed throughout. A measured threaded pass from Tamara Evans put Ellie Welsh through on goal and she hit the ball low past the keeper to put in Felsted’s third and final goal of the afternoon. A good start to the season for the team who will be back in action on Tuesday at Culford.


Player of the Match – Lizzie Went 

Girls Hockey USA Tour 2013

Day 1

A very early start followed by a very smooth trip through both Heathrow and Boston airports saw us arrive around 11:30am local time. Having settled into our very modern accommodation right in the centre of Boston we took a nice gentle walk down to the harbour to stretch out our plane legs. There we stumbled across "Dick's The Last Resort" restaurant. Well! What an experience that was. A one of a kind waitress, paper homemade hats complete with Sharpie graffiti, super food and locals on the table next to us that couldn't believe we had left the country when the royal baby had just arrived. Huge amounts of laughter throughout the entire course of the meal.

Day 2

Up nice and early again to get the bus across to the top notch facilities at Brown University. The 4 Goals Cup staff couldn't have been more welcoming and there was a great energy and feel about the venue all day. The tournament was an U19 tournament and our first match was against Competitive Edge. Thrown in at the deep end somewhat, having not yet trained stateside, the girls took their time to get into their flow and lost the match 2-0. This was followed by our second game on the roof-top water based field (having to climb 6 flights of stairs in the heat before playing the game was a challenge in itself!). Once again the girls struggled to acclimatise to the heat and were beaten by Lead The Way. This meant our last two games were must win games if we were to stand any chance of making the top four teams to qualify for the tournament championship semi finals tomorrow. First up was HTC Hockey Club. An early short corner goal well executed by Izzy Minks put Felsted ahead before it was cancelled out by a finish from close in by HTC. This early set back did not put the girls off their game plan and some much higher quality hockey was starting to be produced. Olivia Schwier produced some fantastic skill to beat the opposing defender before shooting to score from a tight angle to put Felsted back ahead. Minutes later Lizzie Cole confidently finished a short corner to make it 3-1 and Felsted's first win of the tour. The final game was against Sick Field Hockey who had already won a game earlier in the day. Early good work from Ellie Welsh lead to a penalty stroke being awarded which was confidently finished by Hattie Holmes to put Felsted in the lead. From that moment on the girls didn't look back and they ended up 4-0 winners. That was just enough to ensure the girls have qualified for the top stage of the tournament and will play their semifinal at 9:00am tomorrow against Compettive Edge. A chance for revenge! Having returned back to Boston it was time for whale watching. We boarded our cruise liner and headed out to sea. After much scanning of the horizon we finally came across "Pinball" a female humpback whale. It was a special experience to be so close to such a large animal who was not perturbed by our presence.

Day 3

A lie in for the girls before setting off to Brown once again for our semi-final game. In spite of dominating the possession the girls we unable to convert the many chances their skilful play created. This included have more than 10 short corners! Something for the coaches and girls to put some hours into on the practice pitch over the coming weeks. Competitive Edge snuck a break away goal and held on to win 1-0. This meant we were consigned to the oven of the roof-top water based pitch for the bronze medal match. The girls struggled to acclimatise to the sweltering hot temperatures at the height of the day and succumbed to the fitter but less skilful HTC club side. Again the girls had chances but were unable to convert. Overall a great two days at the 4 Goals Cup which the coaches have already learnt a huge amount about the characters and strengths of many of the touring side.

After a tough day of competition the team thoroughly deserved some good grub. With our accommodation being a stones throw away from Boston's Chinatown it seemed only right we should sample the culinary delights on offer. Hilarious over ordering and misunderstanding lead to mountains of food and a noodle eating contest. Everyone left replete!

Day 4

Harvard training day 1! A more leisurely wake up and time to enjoy breakfast. Today we headed to Harvard University's Jordan Field for the first of our training sessions. Miss Sherer was last here when she represented England at the junior world cup and had fond memories of beating Australia there in 2009. It was another hot day but the girls worked hard on some of the themes that had been highlighted at the Brown tournament. Having trained for 2 hours the girls had worked up an appetite and so we called in at Harvard central for our first Panera experience. Great sandwiches and frozen lemonades went down a treat. We couldn't resist a quick look round the Harvard University clothing co-op store... several purchases were made from a store that was rather more sizeable than Felsted's tailors shop! Evening saw us take a walk down to the market for shopping and dinner. More purchases made - bags galore.

Day 5

Harvard training day 2. A second lie in in a row. Result! Once again we were off to Harvard to put the girls through their paces. Short corner work began along with skills for efficient transfer of the ball. This time we did not go back via Harvard central as we had a baseball game to get to. Boston Red Sox v Seattle Mariners at the historical Fenway Park stadium. The game was a real spectacle as the Red Sox triumphed 8-1, a match which included three home runs by the home side. Plenty of singing and many mexican waves made for a great atmosphere.

Day 6, 7 and 8

Packing up and moving on from Boston to the University of Connecticut. The girls made the packing up process seem effortless and were ready to go with time to spare. We arrived at UConn at 11:30 and stopped off for a light lunch before checking in for the Connecticut Elite Field Hockey Camp. Two hours on the field introduced the groups to camp life and allowed time to familiarise themselves with the pitch and coaching staff. The evening saw the first of the camp practice matches, short 7-a-side games against the other five squads in the white pool. Over the next two days the girls had a further eight hours of training which included both individual skill development practices and more game related drills as well as each evening having the competitive element at the camp matches which built up to the final tournament on the last day. The girls came second to the team of girls who have been offered places at the University of Connecticut for the 2013/2014 seasons, many of whom represent the USA at junior level. It was a spirited effort, losing 5-4 to the eventual winners. The girls enjoyed the UConn experience and created a great impression amongst their fellow campers and the staff.

After the presentation ceremony and checking out of their accommodation the tour party embarked on their coach journey to New York. Having settled in to their new rooms the team headed out for a pasta meal at a local restaurant. Delicious food, plenty of laughter (thanks Tabby!) and an early night for tired legs and bodies.


Pictures can be found on the Felsted Hockey twitter page (follow @FelstedHockey).

Boys' 2nd XI v Woodbridge

Saturday 16th March 2013
Result: Won 2-5

Felsted started strongly and moved the ball around at pace, linking up well with each other as they played some of their best hockey of the term in the first half which saw them turn round 4-0 up. Woodbridge worked hard in the second half and scored twice, the second of which was a terrific reverse stick shot into the top left hand corner to make it interesting. Felsted settled the game with a late 5th.

Boys' 2nd XI v Norwich

Saturday 9th March 2013
Result: Won 9-0

Felsted started brightly creating lots of goal scoring opportunities, most of which were taken. Despite a massive effort from the hard working Norwich squad, the intensity and momentum was maintained by the home side during the second half.

Boys’ 2nd XI v Bishop`s Stortford College

Result: Won 1-0

An entertaining and open game saw Felsted create lots of chances without being able to find the back of the net. Bishop`s Stortford College were dangerous on the break and worked hard in midfield.

Boys’ 2nd XI v St Albans

Result: Won 2-0

The Felsted squad worked hard and created a couple of half chances during the early exchanges. St.Albans moved the ball around the pitch well and scored 2 goals before the break. A more determined and improved second half performance saw Felsted play more constructive hockey but they were unable to find the back of the net.